The Air Force recently awarded Lockheed Martin a $67.8 million to complete a year’s worth of F-22 programed depot maintenance, according to a release. The company will carry out this work at its site in Palmdale, Calif., and at the Ogden Air Logistics Complex on Hill AFB, Utah. F-22 depot maintenance is consolidating at Hill over the next year and a half as a cost-saving measure. Ogden has typically provided depot maintenance on some 12 F-22s each year, but that number will grow to about 24 this year as part of the changes, states the Jan. 9 release. In a separate move, the Air Force let a $67.7 million contract to Peerless Technologies of Fairborn, Ohio, for F-22 research, development, and sustainment advice and services until January 2020, announced the Pentagon on Jan. 9.
Amid a high-profile recruiting crisis, Air Force leaders and experts have increasingly noted the challenging long-term trends the service will face in enticing young Americans to sign up—decreasing eligibility to serve, less propensity to do so, and less familiarity with the military. But while those same leaders say there’s no “silver…